{"id":46006,"date":"2022-02-25T11:57:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T10:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whistlelink.com\/blog\/group-wide-whistleblowing-systems-not-enough-for-the-european-commission\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T13:27:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:27:31","slug":"group-wide-whistleblowing-systems-not-enough-for-the-european-commission","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.whistlelink.com\/cs\/blog\/group-wide-whistleblowing-systems-not-enough-for-the-european-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Group-wide whistleblowing systems not enough for the European Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this guest article from Havel & Partners<\/strong>, authors Robert Ne\u0161p\u016frek<\/strong> and Michal Smr\u010dek<\/strong> give an excellent explanation of why group-wide whistleblowing systems are not sufficient<\/strong> under the EU Whistleblowing Directive.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU Whistleblowing Directive<\/a> (Directive (EU) 2019\/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council) requires private entities with more than 50 employees and most public entities to introduce reporting channels and processes for handling internal whistleblowing. The implementation deadline of 17th December 2021 has now passed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numerous global and major national companies already have centralised group-wide reporting systems in place. They are relying on these global solutions as being sufficient beyond 17 December 2021. The European Commission has clearly rejected this interpretation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group-wide whistleblowing system is not sufficient  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The idea of a centralised reporting system was rejected by the European Commission in its interpretation guidelines in response to a joint letter from industry associations from several Member States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission explained that the Directive makes it clear that any private entity with more than 50 employees is required to implement an internal reporting system, regardless of whether or not the entity is part of a corporate group. Any other interpretation would be contrary to the law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Directive does not prohibit centralised group-wide whistleblowing systems, but these can only exist in parallel to reporting systems at the level of individual companies.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission has justified its opinion on the grounds that the system is more efficient if the problem is dealt with at the level of the company where the case was reported, and by the different legal regulations that will be adopted at the national level.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Member States will have to respect this interpretation in implementing the Directive. Therefore, if you have more than 50 employees, you should start preparing for the implementation of your own whistleblowing system<\/a>. This applies even if you already have a global system in place within your group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing of resources within a group is allowed, but only to a limited extent <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Where subsidiaries have up to 249 employees, they may, in accordance with the Directive, pool the resources for investigating a report with their parent company. However, the following conditions must be complied with, as interpreted by the Commission: <\/p>\n\n\n\n